Many industries rely on any number of large and sophisticated items of equipment to assist in the design, development, testing, and/or verification of products. For example, in the photolithography industry, sophisticated equipment is often used to detect fabrication defects in photomasks and/or semiconductor wafers patterned from photomasks. Often, such items of equipment must be manufactured within strict tolerances, and are therefore typically susceptible to mechanical vibration and shock. Accordingly, when such items are transported, measures must be taken to reduce mechanical vibration and shock inherent in transportation that may damage the transported equipment.
However, traditional approaches to transportation of large, sensitive items of equipment have many disadvantages. For example, to reduce mechanical vibration and shock, equipment moved within a facility is often moved slowly (e.g., at less than 3 miles per hour). However, such an approach is impractical for transcontinental and/or transoceanic transport of equipment, which must necessarily occur at greater speeds and unpredictable conditions (e.g., “bumpy” roads and highways, varying traffic conditions, harsh seas, airplane landings, airplane takeoffs, airplane turbulence, etc.). To better protect equipment for transcontinental and/or transoceanic transport of equipment, many types of pallets and crates have been developed, but most have been found to not provide adequate protection to the equipment, resulting in costly repairs.